Apparatus for receiving and conveying oriented articles from orienting and feeding apparatus



iapm 5Q, i'fi s. s. AIDLIN 3,380,627

APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING AND CONVEYING ORIENTED ARTICLES FROM ORIENTINGAND FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 22. 1965 INVENTOR. 6/4/7051 6. A/OZ/A/United States atent O 3,389,627 APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING AND CONVEYINGORIENTED ARTICLES FROM ORIENTING AND FEEDING APPARATUS Samuel S. Aidlin,214 Beaumont St., Brooklyn, NX. 11235 Filed Oct. 22, 1965', Ser. No.501,735 19 Claims. (l. 221-224) The present invention relates to anautomatic apparatus for conveying automatically fed oriented articles,particularly bottles or the like, from an automatic feeding andorienting apparatus to a point of use or processing; and moreparticularly, for receiving and conveying such articles from a hoppertype feeding and orienting apparatus such as shown and described in mycopending applications, Ser. No. 226,102, filed Sept. 25, 1962; Ser. No.421,509, fi ed Dec. 28, 1964; and Ser. No. 436,527, filed Mar. 2, 1965;now respectively matured into Patents Nos. 3,254,- 753, dated June 7,1966; 3,249,203, dated May 3, 1966; and 3,295,659, dated Jan. 3, 1967.

In my said copending applications I have shown and described the severalhopper types of feeding apparatus for feeding bottles or the like, inoriented position; namely, with bottoms foremost so that they may be inan upright position on a receiving surface.

While such apparatus has been highly effective for the purpose, certaindifficulties have been experienced in connection with their use. Thus,the said bottles are generally landed on a conveyor for transportingtoward a point of U use such as filling, capping or labelling apparatus.As the conveyor is in constant motion, ditficulties have beenexperienced in assuring that :1 fed bottle received thereupon willremain in upright position, without toppling over. This difficulty hasbeen especially bothersome with light weight plastic bottles, of thetype currently in use; especially when landing on a belt conveyor thebelt of which has a degree of resilience which may cause a degree ofunbalance in the bottle landing on the conveyor.

In many instances it is also desirable to feed the bottles to a stationin evenly spaced relation to one another as well as at regularly spacedand timed intervals. Of course, feeding and orienting apparatus, of thecharacter described, in my said copending applications, do not andcannot provide such regulated feeding in time and space.

The present invention is directed to the provi:-ion of means, in theform of auxiliary apparatus for receiving and conveying orientedarticles fed from apparatus such as described in my said copendingapplications, which will assure, both, that the bottles fed to theconveyor belt Will remain in upright position on the conveyor belt andthat they will be moved thereby in regulated spaced and timed relationto their point of use or processing.

It is another object of the present invention to provide auxiliaryconveying apparatus, of the character described, which may be controlledas to spacing and timing, from a remote point, as from apparatus towhich the bottles or the like are being conveyed for processing.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide auxiliaryapparatus, of the character described, which is of relatively simpleconstruction and economical to produce.

See

It is a further object of the present invention to provide auxiliaryconveyor apparatus, of the character described, which is relativelycompact and requiring little if any, space additional to that occupiedby the feeding apparatus proper,

It is a still further object of the present invention to provideauxiliary conveyor apparatus, of the character described, which ishighly eflicient and effective in its operation.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present inventionwill be come more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from theembodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and from thedescription following. It is to be understood, however, that suchembodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principlesand practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and withoutany intent of limiting the invention to the specific details thereinshown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section, partly elevational view of the bottleconveying apparatus of the present invention, taken on line 11 of FIG.2; the lowermost of two bottles shown in conveying position;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 with the verticaltubular chute portion omitted;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, similar to that of FIG.1, with the two bottles shown in a pre ceding position; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the indexing means for the apparatusof the present invention as controlled from a remote point.

Referring now in greater detail to the apparatus of the inventionillustrated in the drawings the same is shown to comprise a star wheelpreferably formed of a pair of wheels, 16 and 12, connected in spacedparallel relation to one another, as by spacing elements 14, a distanceapart equal to less than the height of the body of a bottle 16 which itis intended to convey but encompassing a substantial part of suchheight. The star wheels are mounted for rotation in horizontal plane ona shaft 18 which may be vertically supported in any desired manner notthought necessary to be here shown.

The star wheels 10 and 12 are formed with regularly spaced registeringrecesses 20 and 22 respectively, in their edges; such recesses beingpreferably U-shaped of a width and shaped to accommodate the thicknessof the bottom of a bottle 16 at their inner end and having preferablyparallel sides which may be disposed at an angle to a radius of thewheel passing through them.

The star wheels 10 and 12 are disposed in position to have theirrecesses 20 and 22 each pass in vertical alignment with the opening of avertically supported tubular chute 26 which may be connected to and formthe terminal of an outlet chute of a bottle feeding and orientingapparatus such as the hopper feed type of bottle feeding orientingapparatus described in my copending applications.

A conveyor belt 28 is mounted under a lower marginal edge portion of thestar wheels 12 parallel thereto and in position to underlie the outletend of the tubular chute 26. The conveyor is preferably disposedparallel to a line that is tangent to the star wheels 10 and 12 and isspaced a short distance below the lower star wheel 12. A platform 30 issupported in any suitable manner, intermediate the underside of starwheel 12 and above the conveyor belt 28.

Formed in the wall of the tubular chute 26 at its lower end and openinginto its lower edge and facing the direction of rotation of the starwheels 16 and 12, is an escape cut-away or recess 32. The escape recess32 is of a width adapted to admit or to pass therethrough the upperportion of the bottle 16 and its upper edge is disposed a distance abovethe lower star wheel 12 less than the height of a bottle and a distanceabove the platform 30 slightly greater than the height of the bottle.The platform may be of a width to underlie the portion of the star wheel12 to a point where the side of the recesses 29 and 22 passing over itreach a point parallel to the lon gitudinal axis of the conveyor belt.

Means are provided, such as will hereinafter be described for theintermittent rotation of the star wheels 1!) and 12 successive distancesequal to the distance between the inner ends of adjacent pairs ofrecesses 20 and 22, so that all pairs of recesses 20 and 22 may besuccessively brought into register with the bottom openings of the chutetube 26. It will now be apparent that when bottles 16, received in chute26, are fed by gravity through the chute tube 26, the lowermost of thebottles 16a will drop through one set of openings 20a and 22a to restupon the platform 30, the next succeeding bottle 16]) will rest on topof bottle 16a. As star wheels and 12 are rotated through the describeddistance of the next intermittent movement, bottle 16a will be moved bythe engaging recesses 20a and 20b and through the openings 32 away fromthe bottom of the overlying bottle 16]), so that the latter will firstdrop on the star wheel portion 36, that separates the recesses 20a and22a from the adjacent set of recesses 20b and 22b to the rear thereof.In this position the upper portion of the bottle 16b will be retainedwithin the chute as will all bottles above it.

As the first intermittent movement is continued to its termination,bottle 16b will slide over the surface of the starwheel section 36 untilthe termination of the intermittent movement, when the rear pair ofrecesses 20b and 22b come into alignment with the chute tube 26, topermit the bottle 16b to drop down through such next pair of recesses torest upon the platform in the previous position of a bottle 16a.

As the intermittent movement of the star wheels 10 and 12 continues thefirst set of recesses 20a and 22a will be moved over platform 30 untiltheir sides are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor belt28 and the bottle 16a between them will have been moved oii the edge ofthe platform 30 onto the conveyor belt 28 by which it will be moved outof the recesses 20 and 22 during the interval when the star wheels areat rest.

It may be here stated that, if desired, platform 30 may be omitted fromthe apparatus, and the bottles 16 dropped directly on the conveyor belt28. It may her also bee stated that, if desired, a curved guide-rail,39, may be provided on the apparatus to maintain bottle 16 withinrecesses 20 and 22 until they reach the appropriate position overconveyor belt 28, especially when recesses 20 and 22 are not formed anddisposed as described herein but are disposed in a general radialposition. Such guiderail 39 may be mounted directly on platform 30, asillustrated, or otherwise supported on the apparatus.

One arrangement for imparting intermittent movement to the star wheels10 and 12, capable of being controlled from a remote point, is more orless diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawings. Sucharrangement is shown to consist of an index wheel 40, concentricallymounted on shaft 18 with star wheels 10 and 12, with the radial side ofits teeth facing away from the direction of movement of star wheels 10and 12, and, of a pawl 42, which is suitably supported to engage theradial side of the teeth against counter-rotation. The index wheel 40 isarranged to be moved intermittently a suitable distance by the piston,44, to a two-way air cylinder, 46, that is connected at its ends byconduits, 48 and St} to a two-way valve, 52, which is in turn connectedby conduit, 54, to a source of compressed air indicated by the air tube56. The air valve 52 is controlled by a solenoid, 58, connected in anelectric circuit which includes a normally open switch, 60, that may beintermittently closed by the rotary cam, 62. The conduits include each acheck valve, 64 and 66, respectively. It will be apparent that when thehigher surface of the rotary cam 62 closes the circuit to the solenoid53, the valve 52 is conditioned to connect either one of the conduits 48or 59, as conduit 48, for instance, to admit air into the cylinder 46 atits rear end to move the piston 44 outwardly and to engage one of theteeth of the index wheel 40 to rotate it a distance which will causestar wheels 16 and 12 to rotate the distance between the adjacent ofrecesses 20 and 22, as cam 62 is continued to rotate to be disengagedfrom switch 60, solenoid 53 will automatically return to the originalposition so that valve 52 will connect with conduit 50 to admit air tothe other end of the air cylinder to retract the piston 44 into positionfor the pivoted pawl 68 to engage against the radial side of the nextsucceeding entering tooth in readiness for the succeeding rotation ofthe index wheel 49.

It will be'clear that cam 62 may be mounted on an electric motor thatmay be excited by or timed with the operation of the processingapparatus to which the bottles 16 are fed for the next operation thatmay be performed upon or with them. Such apparatus may, for instance, bea filling, capping or labeling machine, and switch may be incorporatedinto such secondary apparatus and cam 62 may be actuated by a movingpart of said apparatus. As the manner of controlling solenoid 58 doesnot constitute a part of the present invention and such control may takemany different forms, it is not thought necessary to specificallyillustrate any one of them.

This completes the description of the conveyor apparatus of the presentinvention. It will be readily apparent that such apparatus is ofrelatively inexpensive and simple construction. It will also be apparentthat it is relatively compact and, since the star wheel is installeddirectly be low the hopper feed apparatus, it will occupy a minimum ofadditional space.

It will be further apparent that the apparatus of the invention ishighly eiiective for its purpose of receiving and keeping bottles, orthe like, discharged from an orienting hopper feed device, in oriented,upright position while being transferred; primarily for the reason thatthe bottles moved by the star wheel to the conveyor belt are moved at aspeed substantially equal to the speed of the conveyor belt when thelatter takes over and removes them from the star wheel. It will beadditionally apparent that such bottles, or the like, will be advancedin regularly spaced and at regularly timed intervals, at a relativelysteady but high rate of speed, to a succeeding station for the purposeof succeeding processing on the bottles.

It will be further apparent that numerous modifications and variationsmay be made in the conveyor of the present invention, in accordance withthe principles thereof hereinabove set forth, and without the exerciseof any inventive ingenuity, by anyone skilled in the art. I desire,therefore, to be protected for any and all such modifications andvariations that may be made within the spirit of the invention and scopeof the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for automatically conveying articles discharged fromfeeding apparatus having an outlet chute to a remote point ofdestination, comprising, in combination, an upright tubular chutesection arranged to receive articles from said outlet chute, aconstantly moving conveyor below said tubular chute, at a distance fromthe outlet opening thereof not less than the height of one of saidarticles, and rotatably movable means intermediate the conveyor and saidtubular chute, at a distance from the outlet opening thereof less thanthe height of an article, for intermittently receiving and advancing anarticle from said tubular chute onto said conveyor.

2. The conveying apparatus of claim 1, wherein said movable meanscomprises a rotatably supported star wheel having article enclosingspaced recesses in its edge, said star wheel arranged to successivelyaline said recesses with the bottom opening of said tubular chute.

3. The conveying apparatus of claim 1, including means forintermittently moving said movable means, said moving means including anelectric circuit having a switch connected therein, and means,controllable from a remote point, for intermittently opening and closingsaid switch.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said outlet opening' of saidtubular chute includes a recess formed in the wall of said tubular chuteand opening into the lower edge thereof and said conveyor is disposed ata distance from said lower edge less than the height of an article, butnot less than the height of an article from the inner end of saidrecess.

5. Apparatus for automatically receiving and moving articles dischargedfrom feeding apparatus having an outlet chute to a point of destination,comprising, in combination, a star wheel, an upright shaft mounting saidstar wheel for rotation at a distance from the outlet opening of saidchute less than the height of an article, means for rotating said starwheel in intermittent movement, said star wheel having a plurality ofregularly-spaced article-receiving recesses in its marginal edgeportion, each opening into the edge thereof, said star Wheel disposed tohave its recesses intermittently successively register with the outletopening of said outlet chute as it is intermittently rotated, acontinuously moving conveyor below said marginal edge portion of saidstar wheel in position to receive thereon articles from successive ofsaid recesses and to move them out of said recesses, said conveyordisposed at a distance from the outlet opening of said chute not lessthan the height of an article.

6. The conveying apparatus of claim 5, wherein said star wheel comprisesspaced upper and lower wheels, said article-receiving recesses formed ineach of said wheels, said wheels interconnected with their recess invertical register.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein a guard rail is provided alongsideof said star wheel to retain the articles within said recesses, saidguard rail extending to a point where the opening of each of saidrecesses faces the direction of movement of said movable conveyor.

8. The conveying apparatus of claim 5, wherein a platform is interposedbetween said conveyor and the underside of said star wheel, saidplatform extending from a point; underlying the opening of said tubularchute to a point registering with the inner end of a recess whoseopening faces the direction of movement of said conveyor.

9. The conveying apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for impartingintermittent rotary movement to said star wheel includes an indexingwheel mounted on said shaft and electrically actuated means successivelyengaging teeth of said indexing wheel for rotating the same, saidelectrically actuated means including an electric circuit having aswitch connected therein and remotely controllable means forautomatically alternately opening and closing said switch.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said outlet opening of said outletchute includes a recess formed in the wall of said chute and openinginto the lower edge thereof, and said conveyor is disposed at a distancefrom said lower edge less than the height of an article, but not lessthan the height of an article from the inner end of said recess.

11. Apparatus for translating articles discharged from feeding apparatushaving an outlet chute to a remote point of destination, comprising asubstantially vertical chute section associated with said outlet chute,a constantly moving conveyor below said tubular chute section at adistance from the outlet opening thereof not less than the height of anarticle, a platform over said conveyor below said chute section at adistance from the outlet opening thereof not less than the height of anarticle and means intermediate said chute section and said platform andat a height from said chute less than the height of an article forintermittently releasing and moving, at regular space and timeintervals, an article from said chute section onto said conveyor.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said outlet opening of saidtubular chute includes a recess formed in the wall of said tubular chuteand opening into the lower edge thereof and said conveyor is disposed ata distance from said lower edge less than the height of an article, butnot less than the height of an article from the inner end of saidrecess.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said articlereleasing and movingmeans comprises a star Wheel, means mounting said star wheel forrotation, with the marginal edge portion thereof underlying said chutesection, said star wheel having a plurality of evenly-spacedarticle-receiving recesses formed in its said marginal edge portion,said recesses opening into the edge thereof.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said star wheel comprises a pairof wheel members secured to one another in spaced, parallel relation,each said wheel member having said recesses formed therein in registerwith a recess in the other.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the means mounting said starwheel for rotation comprises a shaft, an indexing wheel mounted on saidshaft, and electricallyactuated means successively engaging teeth ofsaid indexing wheel for rotating the same, and wherein said electricallyactuated means includes an electric circuit having a switch connectedtherein and remotely controllable means for automatically alternatelyopening and closing said switch.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein each said recess is ofsubstantially U-shape with its inner end disposed below said chutesection in position to receive an article discharged therefrom andhaving its sides substantially parallel to one another and disposed atan angle to a radius of said star wheel passing through said recess.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said platform underlies saidmarginal edge portion of said star wheel and extends from a point belowsaid chute section to a point where said sides of said recesses areparallel to the direction of movement of said conveyor.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said platform underlies saidmarginal edge portion of said star wheel and extends from a point belowsaid chute section to substantially a point wherein each said recess hasits opening facing the direction of movement of said conveyor.

19. Apparatus for automatically receiving and conveying to a point ofdestination articles fed from a feeding apparatus, comprising a chuteassociated with said feeding apparatus adapted to discharge articlesreceived therein in substantially upright position, a star wheel, meansmounting said star wheel for rotation with its marginal edge portionunderlying the outlet opening of said chute, said star wheel having aplurality of regularly spaced article-receiving recesses formed in itssaid marginal edge portion, each opening into the edge thereof, saidstar wheel disposed at a distance from the outlet opening of said chuteless than the height of an article, a constantly moving conveyor belowsaid star wheel at a distance from said outlet opening not less than theheight of an article, and arranged to receive thereon articles fromsuccessive of said recesses and to move them out of said recesses,

7 8 as said conveyor is moved and said star wheel is rotated, 2,386,04310/ 1945 Everett 198-425 said recesses of substantially U-shape andhaving their 2,529,777 11/1950 McInnis 198135 inner end portion disposedto register with the outlet of 2,496,438 2/1950 Brandt 198-35 said chuteand having their sides substantially parallel to one another and at anangle to a radius of the star wheel 5 FOREIGN PATENTS Passing throughthem- 30,181 1/1963 Germany.

References Cited 286,739 2/1965 Netherlands.

UNITED STATES PATENTS EDWARD A. SROKA, Primary Examiner.

1,522,717 1/1925 Frost 198-25 10 EVON C. BLUNK, Examiner. 1,946,4522/1934 Bridges 198135

1. APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONVEYING ARTICLES DISCHARGED FROMFEEDING APPARATUS HAVING AN OUTLET CHUTE TO A REMOTE POINT OFDESTINATION, COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, AN UPRIGHT TUBULAR CHUTESECTION ARRANGED TO RECEIVE ARTICLES FROM SAID OUTLET CHUTE, ACONSTANTLY MOVING CONVEYOR BELOW SAID TUBULAR CHUTE, AT A DISTANCE FROMTHE OUTLET OPENING THEREOF NOT LESS THAN THE HEIGHT OF ONE OF SAIDARTICLES, AND ROTATABLY MOVABLE MEANS INTERMEDIATE THE CONVEYOR AND SAIDTUBULAR CHUTE, AT A DISTANCE FROM THE OUTLET OPENING THEREOF LESS THANTHE HEIGHT OF AN ARTICLE, FOR INTERMITTENTLY RECEIVING AND ADVANCING ANARTICLE FROM SAID TUBULAR CHUTE ONTO SAID CONVEYOR.